Problems at Teachers Pension Fund

Peter_Kendrick

My wife retired as a teacher this summer. She was due to receive her lump sum from Teachers Pensions on 1 September 2010 and her monthly pension a few days later. It didn't arrive. She made numerous phone calls and wrote letters put she didn't receive her lump sum until late October.

All the other teachers at her school suffered the same fate and received their lump sums even later than she did (they didn't complain as much). It caused us severe financial difficulty in view of plans we'd made relying on the lump sum.

She made an official complaint in writing. She has just had a reply (took over two months) and all she has had is an apology saying they had an unprecedented number of teachers retiring. She asked for compensation for loss of interest. The lump sum was over £70,000. Is there anything else we can do to get compensation. Is there a Pensions Ombudsman who could help?

bilbo51

How much compensation do you think she should get?

One calculation might be to work out what the loss of interest was.

2 months interest on £70,000 at a generous 3% per annum would be ~ £350.

AndreaBrown

Oh you know, my sister mum is also a teacher and she faced this problem so many times! Certainly everything depends on the place where you work but it’s really unpleasant when somebody treat you like this. You need to complain to the authorities till the moment you get the money back.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Peter_Kendrick

I think that would be fair. It was a very stressful time as we couldn't get any information from them as to when she would get it. I suspected they had gone bust. Did anyone else have problems with them??? Has anyone been successful getting compensation???

jem16

Peter_Kendrick wrote: »

I suspected they had gone bust.

God help us if they did - it's a government scheme.

craigdarroch

I am struggling for a year to get Teachers Pensions to sort out my pension for a number of reasons, but the initial problem was that my employer sent them the wrong data about my service and salary record. TP knew it was wrong but based my pension on it because they 'don't have the resources to pursue problems'. Nor did they alert me. These errors left me well over £5000 out of pocket, and I only stumbled across the errors by sheer chance. Neither appeared on any of the statements I received, and I had no way of knowing about them before I contacted the TPA about a small detail and the agent mentioned my odd service record in passing, making small talk.
It is ESSENTIAL to get from TPA the final Record of Service and Salary that they use for calculating your pension entitlement - it's only 1 page, but revealed that there were 2 major errors in my case. (It lists all service periods and salaries for your whole career, including the last few months, which were omitted in my case, and half-yearly salaries, one of which omitted the Responsibility Element in my case.)
TP have been awful to deal with - they ignore emails and delay replying to letters. Their phone system gets answers - some made up on the spot, but at least some progress gets made. But record the name of the agent and the date of the call - the senior administrators become very uncooperative if you don't accept being palmed off and start pushing for action.
This whole thing has worn me down, nearly. I've asked my Union to help, now - I should have done so ages ago. (I'm glad now that I kept membership for £20!):(

craigdarroch

No help from Union but have been given £100 "ex gratia" payment from TP and almost sorted. (Only 2 mistakes in their response to my complaint about their mistakes...) Contacted NASUWT - wish I hadn't! Confused advice and inefficient service. Not sure whose side they're on - would have to take up arms against them, too, if I want their help. Just my employer to sort out now - still owes me £80 Premature Retirement Lump-sum.